When I was in high school, I had a dream. I was going to be the next Stephen King. Heh. Yeah. Stay with me. Please. I knew my ideas were fabulous and I knew all it would take is for an editor to look at it and they would offer me up the moon and the stars and best of all, a contract. I had my girlfriends read everything I wrote. And they kept telling me, “This is fabulous! It’s SO funny! Hilarious!” Seeing it really wasn’t supposed to BE funny, I immediately changed course realizing I actually had a better handle on being funny than scary. I also figured adding a romance into it would even make it better since that is what I loved to read.
I then entered college as an English major. I was going to be teacher and write during the summers. Even then I was a smart girl who knew I wasn’t going to make jack and that I needed a job to support the “creative” one. Throughout all of college I wrote historical romances. One right after another. And kept submitting. And submitting. And submitting. And kept getting rejected and rejected and rejected. In the meantime, I got married. I had two kids. I joined RWA. I got critique partners. I did honed and honed and honed the crap out of my writing. And kept writing and getting rejected. I eventually racked up over 200 rejections and had written over 40 books in those 11 years of trying to get published.
When I finally sold my first historical romance, MISTRESS OF PLEASURE, and my second book, LORD OF PLEASURE, I was beside myself. It didn’t feel real. To FINALLY arrive at a destination I had been traveling toward for 11 long years seemed like a mirage. Which fortunately, I quickly snapped out of. Because after all, most of my friends are all published and unpublished writers and the stories they all have told me throughout the years made me realize I had to fight with fists up for myself every step of the way. I knew publishers did little to no promotion for their authors, so I spearheaded my own promo, ready to be more than just an author. And even though I was budgeting very well and spending countless hours networking and promoting on websites and blogs, doing tons for free, I still ended up spending $7,000 on my first book. Which was way more than my advance. But hey, every business starts in the red. Right?
Then the reviews started coming in about my series set in 1830 London England about a school that educates men on the topic of love and seduction. People loved it! Wow. It got nominated for awards. Wow. Readers are e-mailing me raving. Wow. Readers from France, Austria, Poland, South Africa and from all over the U.S and the world.. Wow. It just kept getting better and better. I was beginning to feel as if every penny I spent was all worth it (even though my family and I weren’t going on any vacations and were eating out of cans). Because all that mattered was that my publisher loved me and my readers loved my series.
Come contract time, I’m ready for whatever they wanna throw at me. Or so I thought. Mistress of Pleasure, though completely sold out and unavailable anywhere (unless it’s a used copy, some going for a ridiculous amount of $40.00), hadn’t done as well as my publisher had hoped. So without waiting for the second book to come out to see if the series was even worth saving, I get a rejection from my own editor citing lack of sales.
I have to say this rejection felt more personal than any of the other two hundred and some rejections I’d received. Because it was no longer “Your book isn’t good enough” it became “Your sales aren’t good enough.” Since when is an author supposed to be a market guru AND a fabulous writer? Eck.
I love this series. The men in it make me laugh and it broke my heart to think that my readers will never get a chance to read about Lord Brayton, my glorious male virgin. The only alpha virgin I’ve ever written about. Then I realized something, why I am letting a publisher decide what is worth holding on to? Shouldn’t that be a reader’s job?
Ah. Herein lies the purpose of my post. I am challenging everyone, be they readers or writers to help me do something that’s never been done before. Save a series from a death sentence given by a publisher. Can it be done? Who knows. But I eat challenges for breakfast and I hope you do to. Please join me in saving my series. Come August 4th, tell everyone you know (yes, even you’re 72 year old grandfather) to buy the book, Lord of Pleasure. In doing so, you’ll have a chance to win one of three $50 Visa Gift Cards. How? Check out my website for details at www.DelilahMarvelle.com
That said, thank you for all the support and love everyone has already shown me by allowing me to blog about this. Feel free to post and repost this to everyone under the moon and the stars. To all you readers out there, thank you for supporting us writers. To all you writers out there, don’t ever give up on your writing. The moment you do, you give up on yourself. Which is why I’m not giving up on my series.
Cheers and much love,
Delilah Marvelle
Comments
No Responses to “Guest Author Day with Delilah Marvelle”
Leave a Reply
Oh god Delilah, I loved this post. Very true and what some newbie authors don’t get is that they can write the most fantabulous of books, yet if they don’t get their name out there to the readers and sell themselves, they won’t get sales.
Great psot and oh so true.
Raine D.
Dalilah,
This post spoke to me, my goal is to be published in a new york house. right now I am e-books and getting my name out there. Your post spoke to me, and having believed that I was along, now I know I’m not. Thank you for the inspiration not to give up on a life long dream, even if it seems impossible, which you showed me it’s not, even it it takes a while.
Thanks so much
Tuesday
My dearest Raine,
Thank you so much for having me and thank you for your support!!!
My dearest Tuesday,
No, you are not alone. So many writers struggle through this. That is why our writing chapters and critique partners are so important. They keep us going and understand us in a way no else can. I am so thrilled you could read this post and use it for some form of inspiration. That was another reason why I am sharing my experience with the world. Because there are so many writers who will be published in New York (as you will for it sounds like you have the determination and the drive) but no one hands them a sheet of paper explaining that a tough journey had actually just begun. It’s a wonderful, wonderful business but it’s also a tough, tough business. I am cheering for you and know that you will acheive your dream of being published in New York.
Cheers and much love,
Delilah
Delilah I had the pleasure of reading your first novel when you sent it to me for my readers group and i fell in love im saddened that it will only get two books and a short run i plan on buying a couple copies of the second one mainly because I love the story and because i dont want to have to share mine with my mother and sister they can have their own copies much love and respect to you and your cause!
[...] Read the original here: Guest Author Day with Delilah Marvelle | Raine Delight [...]